To the editor:
"More fake outrage from the right ..." is how a friend answered when asked about this proposed "Mosque in Manhattan" deal.
Exactly right. Let's see: The man who wants to put a cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero (think YMCA or JCC) is not a celebrant of the 9/11 tragedy, despite what those on the right would have you believe.
This is a guy who has spent decades traveling and trying to bridge the gulf between the Islamic world and the U.S. He was hired by the Bush State Department to travel with Karen Hughes to the Middle East, trying to develop mutual understanding (as an aside, just one more government job Hughes failed miserably at ... wonder how many pensions she's drawing).
He has appeared with Judge Scalia, a darling of the right. He was hired by the FBI (who vets their prospective employees more thoroughly than, oh, any organization on planet Earth) to teach their agents about Islam post-9/11. He and his family have received death threats for years from Muslim extremists for trying to create peace and understanding. This is the guy the right wants you to think is a terrorist sympathizer.
Nonsense.
In fact, he doesn't even have the funds to build the thing yet, and he may never get them. By the way, there are about 50 Mosques in Manhattan at present — why is this one the object of such scorn? Because it's only "two blocks" from the 9/11 site? Really? Who exactly determined that distance as the boundary — noted cartographer Sarah Palin? Would three blocks be OK? Four? (Actually, there already is a mosque four blocks away ... no noise from the right on that one, though.) And what about all the fast food joints, OTB parlors and massage parlors there? I guess those are a fitting monument.
Just one more fake Willie Horton-type scare tactic by the fear mongers on the right, folks — invent some terrible threat, and present themselves as the only solution. That's pretty much all they have left, since they've come up with no solutions for the economy, health care, the wars, energy, etc. So the Party of No figures, hey, let's change the subject to detract from our abysmal record of "leadership" the past decade.
Their pathetic cynicism is real easy to spot; the real shame is, many uninformed Americans actually believe this garbage.
Domenic A Feroce
Windham
